542 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
“Here a large piece of the wall has fallen, exposing the entrance of two caves 
or passages extending under the structure, very long and narrow, and well built. 
I was not able to discover for what they served or why they were constructed. 
There is a grand stairway descending by a great number of steps to the river. 
Besides these things there are many others which prove that here was formerly 
the seat of a great power and a great population, civilised and considerably advanced 
in the arts, as is shown in the various figures and buildings. 
‘‘T endeavoured with all possible care to ascertain from the Indians, through 
the traditions derived from the ancients, what people lived here, or what they knew 
or had heard from their ancestors concerning them. But they had no books relat- 
ing to their antiquities, nor do I believe that in all this district there 1s more than 
one, which I possess. They say that in ancient times there came from Yucatan 
a great lord who built these edifices, but that at the end of some years he returned 
to his native country, leaving them entirely deserted. 
“And this is what appears most likely, for tradition says the people of Yuca- 
tan in time past conquered the provinces of Uyajal, Lacandon, Vera Paz, Chiqui- 
~mula, and Copan; and it is certain that the Apay language which is spoken here is 
current and understood in Yucatan and the aforesaid provinces. It appears also 
that the design of these edifices is like that of those which the Spaniards first dis- 
covered in Yucatan and Tabasco, where there were figures of bishops and armed 
men and crosses. And as such things are found nowhere except in the aforesaid 
places, it may well be believed that the builders of all were of the same nation.” 
